The present invention relates to an ornamental soft-shelled crystal ball, and more particularly to a soft-shelled crystal ball having an improved baffle below a lower reduced neck portion of the crystal ball. The baffle is provided with a downward projected filling port, an upper part of which defines a stepped inner hole sealed with a first stepped plug and a lower part of which is a tube sealed with a second plug. A soft shell of the crystal ball extends beyond the baffle is first tightened around the filling port and then below the second plug to make the crystal ball absolutely leakproof. The baffle is also provided with through holes and downward projected stub, so that a space communicable with the crystal ball is formed between the baffle and the tightened soft shell to facilitate forming of visible liquid flows in the crystal ball when the same is patted or compressed.
Transparent balls filled with liquid and other decorative floating articles are a popular indoor ornament and are usually referred to as a crystal ball. In the early stage, most crystal balls have a hard shell made of glass material that is fragile and expensive. There are also crystal balls having a shell made of injection molded hard plastic materials, such as a transparent acrylic material. Such hard plastic crystal balls are impact-resistant and inexpensive. Recently, there are also crystal balls formed from a liquid-filled soft spherical shell made of a transparent plastic material. There are frequently changes in the design of such crystal balls in an attempt to simplify or improve the manner of sealing the crystal ball so that the same is leakproof. Either the hard-shelled or the soft-shelled crystal balls, they all have a lower reduced neck portion. The neck portion, on the one hand, highlights the spherical shape of the crystal ball and, on the other hand, enables the crystal ball to stably locate on a matched seat for display. Since the crystal ball is filled with liquid via the reduced neck portion, it is necessary to make the neck portion leakproof after filling the crystal ball.
In the case of a conventional soft-shelled crystal ball, when the thin and soft shell is pressurized and filled with liquid to form a ball-shaped body, an opening or the filling hole of the shell is tightened to prevent the soft shell from leaking. Generally, a commercially available toothed binding belt is used to tighten the soft shell without the risk of becoming loosened. The tightened portion of the soft shell forms a reduced neck portion of the crystal ball for engaging with a top opening of a seat. To facilitate the forming of the reduced neck portion of the soft-shelled crystal ball, a disc-shaped baffle is usually positioned in the soft shell in advance to locate below the seat. The baffle has a diameter slightly larger than an inner diameter of the top opening of the seat, so that the soft shell is bent when it passes the overlapped top opening of the seat and the baffle and forms the reduced neck portion around the top opening of the seat. The disc-shaped baffle in the soft-shelled crystal ball is structurally and functionally equivalent to a bottom cover positioned in a neck portion of a hard-shelled crystal ball to seal the neck portion. That is, the baffle is basically an element adapted to seal the reduced neck portion of the soft-shelled crystal ball.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a soft-shelled crystal ball having an improved baffle, so that filling of the soft shell with liquid and sealing of the filling hole via the baffle could be simplified while an absolutely leakproof soft-shelled crystal ball could be manufactured.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a soft-shelled crystal ball having an improved baffle, wherein the baffle is provided with means to support the soft shell of the crystal ball passing below the baffle, so that a lower space is formed in the crystal ball below the baffle to communicable with an upper space above the baffle, allowing liquid in the upper space to flow into and out of the lower space to create visible flows in the soft-shelled crystal ball when the same is patted or otherwise compressed. To achieve the above and other objects, the soft-shelled crystal ball of the present invention mainly includes a baffle that is provided with a downward projected filling port, an upper part of which defines a stepped inner hole sealed with a first stepped plug and a lower part of which is a tube portion sealed with a second plug. The baffle is also provided along a lower outer periphery with a plurality of stubs. The soft shell extended downward from the neck portion is tightened around the tube portion of the filling port and is supported by the stubs to provide a lower space below the baffle. The soft shell extended beyond the tube portion is tightened again to make the crystal ball absolutely leakproof. The space below the baffle is communicable with the crystal ball through holes provided on the baffle. When the soft-shelled crystal ball is compressed or patted, liquid in the crystal ball flows into and out of the lower space to produce visible liquid flows in the crystal ball.